China’s Science and Technology Progress through the Lens of Patenting

This chapter assesses China’s science and technology (S&T) progress through the lens of the patenting literature in the context of China. In particular, after presenting an overview of China’s patent production over the past twenty-five years, it investigates the following questions: What accounts for China’s patent surge? What are the implications of the surge for patent quality? Does the nature of the patenting reveal China’s S&T direction and comparative advantage? How has the international sector affected China’s patent production? What has been the role of the government—the central, provincial, and local governments—in shaping patent production? And finally, how heterogeneous is China’s regional patent production; are patenting capabilities diffusing across China?

Editorial

This general edition of the journal provides insights and results of research employing a wide range of approaches and perspectives on widening participation and lifelong learning. Studies from across the UK and international sector utilise different methodological approaches, and as such are particularly interesting, with diverse methods and ways of analysis, including phenomenographic, narrative, and thematic analysis. Overall, the articles range from exploratory case studies and small-scale research to wider range and broad scale studies, highlighting different facets and perspectives. Furthermore, the articles in this volume cover a broad spectrum of institutions and places involved in widening participation, with an emphasis on the (higher) education sector in the UK balanced by international perspectives. The first seven empirical articles are based on research activities in a secondary school, a youth centre, in further education colleges (usually focusing on post-compulsory secondary or pre-university education), in so-called post-92 universities (new(er) universities, formerly Polytechnics and teacher training colleges), and last but not least in a research intensive Russell Group university. They reported challenges from the specific local contexts of different regions in England, from the South (Chichester) to London to the North (Carlisle), and can usefully be framed in the context of international discussions appearing later in the journal.

Evaluation and mitigation analysis of carbon footprint for an airline operator: Case of Nepal airlines corporation

This paper deals with evaluation and analysis of carbon footprint of an airline operator, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) by using its actual flight and maintenance data from 2016 to 2019. NAC is a multi-fleet operator, of both turboprop and turbofan aircrafts. Carbon footprint in terms of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emission has been calculated for NAC’s airline operations per individual aircraft, fleet-type and operating sector (i.e., international and domestic), and total ground handling operations. In each of the study years, contribution to NAC’s total CO2 production from its domestic fleet was found out to be very small (below 6% of yearly total), even though its fleet number outnumbered that of international fleet. This indicates better optimization opportunities for international-sector (turbofan) aircrafts than domestic-sector (turboprop) aircrafts. Reductions in fuel on-board as per prescribed levels, better airport slot management and selection of long-haul flight destinations have been identified as potential mitigation strategies for CO2 emission from international sector. Smaller aircrafts operating in domestic sectors are more prone to variations in occupancy rate and as such, NAC could focus on optimizing its commercial strategy to improve its CO2/passenger rate in domestic sector.

Efficiency and Unrestricted Gifts in the Guatemalan Nonprofit Sector

As the nonprofit sector continues to grow, a shift in funding has occurred, from giving unrestricted gifts to giving primarily restricted donations. This shift places increased pressure on nonprofits to appear efficient and is especially predominant in the international sector. This study aims to understand how this shift in funding has created issues for Pionero Philanthropy’s nonprofit partners in the Republic of Guatemala. After conducting 56 semi-structured interviews with Pionero Philanthropy’s nonprofit partners across Guatemala, thematic analysis revealed where funding was most needed: operations, specifically directed towards salaries and staffing. This study shows that by redirecting the focus away from efficiency and toward the promotion of comprehensive donor education, donors will gain more trust in nonprofits and will be more willing to give larger unrestricted gifts to operations. By funding this need, Guatemalan nonprofits will have the opportunity to perform better across Pionero Philanthropy's Five Pillar Evaluation, an evaluation system that measures five best practices supported by nonprofit academic literature (sustainability, impact, transparency, relevance, and a redefined efficiency).

Understanding the Paradigm Shift in Strategy of M&As in India in a Volatile Period Through Motive Analysis: Evidences from the IT Industry

The reform period in India led to corporate restructuring, including mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Specifically, the reform process helped the Indian information technology (IT) sector to gain a competitive edge. With the gain in competitive edge, IT companies experienced the foreign-led rapid organic and inorganic growth. However, the subprime crisis of 2008–2009 not only caused a decline in inorganic investment but also caused a shift in preference from the international sector to the domestic sector. This study provides evidence of the paradigm shift in merger and acquisitions (M&A) strategies of Indian IT companies through motive analysis (2000–2015). In that context, this article explores the trend and pattern of motives for both domestic and cross-border M&As (CBMAs) by Indian IT firms and specifically seeks to investigate the main motives of CBMAs. The empirical evidence suggests a marked difference and dynamism in the pattern of motives for domestic and CBMAs across different sub-time periods. Furthermore, it indicates that the market and efficiency-seeking motives seem to be the dominant drivers of IT sector firms for emerging countries like India, whereas the role of efficiency-seeking motive became more prominent after the period of subprime crisis.

Diversity In The International Charity Sector

This paper contributes to the current debate on racial diversity in the third sector. It offers a critical analysis of the social mobility issues in the international charity sector, by evaluating ethnic minority intake in higher education and employment.It links the disparities in both areas to question what more can be done to improve the social mobility and race issues that are prevalent in the international sector, and the charity sector as a whole.

Factors that Influence Student Retention

With the increase in enrolment figures from second level education to third level education over the last number of decades, non-progression rates continue to give cause for concern in certain levels and disciplines. It has been widely argued that in addition to increasing enrolment numbers, higher education must also be concerned with the success of these students. In both the Irish and the international sector, the negative consequences of non-progression has been highlighted, not just on a societal level, but also for the students themselves. It is crucial for first-year student experience to have a positive experience and be fully supported in achieving the goals of higher education. From researching several reports in the area of retention and in particular the reports published by the Irish Higher Education Authority and the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in this area, it is clear that there is a need to analyse the data available and present the findings in a clear way to the key decision makers to allow for early intervention. This paper uses the different phases of the CRISP-DM methodology and applies data mining techniques and models to a real student dataset with the aim to predict the students that will progress. Keywords: Learning analytics; Data Mining; Higher Education; Retention.

Paradigm Shift of India Companies under Global Uncertainty: Evidence from Trend, Motive and Impact Analysis of Mergers and Acquisitions in IT Sector

The reforms process in India has helped Indian Information Technology sector to gain competitive edge in the world market. With this gain in competitive edge, IT companies experienced foreign sector led rapid organic and inorganic growth. However, the sub-prime crisis of 2008-2009 not only caused decline in the inorganic investment but also caused shift of preference from international sector to domestic sector. This study provides evidences of paradigm shift of Indian IT companies through trend and motives analysis of Mergers and Acquisitions (MandAs) in the post-liberalisation period. The study also examines the long term impact of domestic MandAs on financial performance through multivariate regression technique. The results of impact analysis can throw some light on the strategic acumen of Indian IT companies.